"Our involvement in the war was justifiable, and this belongs to our sovereign rights," North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said. "I regard this as part of the sacred mission we must execute for our brothers and comrades-in-arms."
"We have a plan B and a plan C. But our focus is plan A, the essence of which is to get everyone's support" for Ukraine's accession, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"(T)he presence at the Victory Parade of a country that bombs cities, hospitals, and daycares, and which has caused the deaths and injuries of over a million people over three years, is a shame," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"I have great hope that an agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine will be reached this weekend," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on May 9, shortly before traveling to Kyiv alongside the leaders of France, Poland, and the U.K.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will arrive in Kyiv early on May 10.
The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days, despite Putin's self-declared Victory Day "truce."
The sanctioned oil tankers have transported over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to Downing Street. The U.K. has now sanctioned more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev talks to the press as he arrives for the European Political Community Summit at Blenheim Palace on July 18, 2024, in Woodstock, England. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Jan. 7 called Armenia effectively a "fascist state," claiming that Baku might have no other choice but to "destroy" its neighbor's so-called "fascist ideology."
Azerbaijan and Armenia are bitter rivals, having clashed in multiple territorial and ethnic conflicts since they gained independence three decades ago.
Speaking in an interview with local television channels, Aliyev accused Armenian authorities of being bearers of a "fascist ideology" for 30 years, shaping the country in their image. He also called Armenia a "threat to the region."
The Azerbaijani strongman issued thinly veiled threats against Armenia, saying that "fascism must be destroyed. It will be destroyed either by the Armenian leadership or by us. We have no other choice."
In September 2023, Baku's forces captured the Nagorno-Karabakh region, de jure Azerbaijani territory that, at the time, was de facto ruled by ethnic Armenian authorities and had been a key point of contest between the two countries.
Almost the entire 100,000-strong Armenian population fled the region following Azerbaijan's lightning offensive.
As Yerevan and Baku lead bilateral talks on normalizing relations and settling outstanding border disputes, Armenian authorities have accused Azerbaijan, currently the stronger player in the region, of planning further hostilities.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said last December that the Azerbaijani side received proposals on two unresolved issues in the negotiations but has yet to respond.
"If Azerbaijan also doesn’t have intentions to attack Armenia, then the likelihood of escalation in the region is zero," Pashinyan said in an interview last month.
Aliyev also called on France and other countries to stop providing arms to Armenia and take back the weapons already provided. Yerevan has deepened security cooperation with the West after its traditional ally, Russia, did not step in to prevent Azerbaijan's attack in 2023 despite having peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
